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Sunday, December 8, 2013

The Bhag Farheena Bhag Episode...

This Bhag Farheena Bhag episode was not as funny
as it would sound on my blog.

On the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3
December 2013, Farheena informed me that she will have to go to the playground
where some students were participating in the sports meet. With huge piles of
work staring at me, I was half ready to convince her to sleep the morning off.
But the girl was so bubbling with enthusiasm that I decided to spend the
morning encouraging children to give their best. Farheena got up early in the morning, even
before the alarm could go off. We both were ready in a jiffy, but unfortunately there were
no autos available for us. So I decided to walk with Farheena to a corner at
the end of the street which is just a little distance from our home to look out
for an auto. Farheena happily accompanied me until she spotted a cow. All of
sudden the girl became stiff and cold. She is terrified of the cow and will not
believe me if I tell her that those animals are harmless. She somehow believes
that cows eat people or at least push them down on the ground and stomp on
them. I have no clue where she got that misleading idea from.

She stood stuck to the spot near a bakery refusing to walk
even a step ahead. I decided to wait for an auto there, as it is not an unusual
place to find one. Minutes after minutes ticked by as the cow ate from the
garbage thrown on road while no rickshaw came by. Farheena was feeling more and
more scared and uneasy watching the cow eat banana peels, rotten bread and a
piece of oily cloth. A passer by stopped his bike and offered two rotis for the
cow and patted its head. Farheena looked on aghast. Then a maruti van came by,
where the driver stopped the vehicle and touched the cow on the back and
smeared the goodness of the cow on his forehead. I knew it was coming and then
it came – the question from Farheena. Why are they treating the cow in such
way? Now, how am I supposed to explain to Farheena, a special needs child, that
cow is considered to be a holy animal by some people? I tried my best and
explained to Farheena, “Beta, people love cows because it gives us milk, so
some people love cows”.

Farheena : Where we get other food stuff from?

Me: We get it from different sources like sea, trees and
other animals

This was followed by 3 -4 minutes of silence

Farheena: Ma where do we get KFC chicken from? (I had promised
her a treat at KFC, her most favorite restaurant on our way back home)

Me: We get eggs and chicken from hens

Farheena: Why don’t people treat hen in the same way? Chicken
is more delicious than milk? Thy are small, harmless and nice.

That is where the conversation ended with me looking at her
open mouthed, totally lost for an answer. After the cow worshipers and cat worshipers I was seeing the birth of a CHICKEN WORSHIPER. OMG!

I saw the cow moving away to a different
spot, may be offended by what Farheena said about it. I seized the opportunity
and told Farheena that we could move ahead a little where we may find an auto-rickshaw;
moreover we had to move since the cow may come back anytime. She was more than
willing to get away from the place and started off. We hadn't got far when the
cow changed her mind and path. Now she was coming our way slowly. I did not
want Farheena to find the cow beside her and panic, hence slowly and calmly I let
her know that we may have to pick up speed since the cow was coming our way.
She did, and this was the first time I was seeing her walk with such speed.
Unfortunately a girl in black dress was in a greater hurry than Farheena and was a little behind
us. Her heels made sound that Farheena thought was the sound of the cow’s hooves.
She started panicking and later shouting scaring the girl walking behind her.
The girl thought something or someone was chasing Farheena and picked up more
speed to get away from it. It took some time for me to understand what was happening
and once I realized her confusion I tried to calm Farheena. even as the girl brushed past her. I could see that she
had panicked too. Once Farheena realized that it was the girl who was passing
by and the cow was far behind us, she relaxed. I can’t imagine the fear she
must have felt when she thought the cow was near her.

Unfortunately, there were three more cows ahead of us now
whereas the other cow was slowly gaining on us. I told Farheena that Maa is
going to keep her safe, took her to the side of the road which was farthest from
the cows and then we had the Bhag Farheena Bhag event when she zoomed past them
in full throttle. We hailed an auto as we reached the main road. Farheena was
in such a hurry to get inside the auto and away from the cows, that she bruised
her knees getting in. After 50 minutes since we stepped out of our home, finally
her ordeal was over. I am not sure whether today a chicken worshiper was born
or not. I have to wait and see if this KFC lover is going to start a new trend
or forget about the whole thing soon.

Nothing in the playground could match the drama we
experienced on the road. Everything appeared to be less exciting for me, but I
am going to come up with the post about what I feel about the International Day
of Persons with Disabilities in my next post.